Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A knowledge or love of or taste for fine objects of art.
- n. Objects of art, especially fine antique objets d'art, considered as a group.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A word used chiefly in the phrase article of virtu, an object interesting for its precious material, fine or curious workmanship, antiquity, rarity, or the like, such as gems, medals,enamels,etc.: usually an object of some quality of art which appeals to fancy or to a curious taste.
Wiktionary
- n. art Knowledge of the fine arts
- n. art objets d'art collectively
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A love of the fine arts; a taste for curiosities.
WordNet 3.0
- n. artistic quality
- n. objet d'art collectively (especially fine antiques)
- n. love of or taste for fine objects of art
Etymologies
- Italian virtù, virtue, virtu, from Latin virtūs, excellence, virtue; see virtue. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Italians of that age called virtu, that is, personal courage, force, and elegance.”
“The two variables were what Machiavelli called virtu and fortuna.”
“In all these provinces, therefore, after the Romans fell, the Sects possessed, and yet possess in part, that virtu which is desired and lauded with true praise.”
“So that if there had been any kind of virtu in Venice and in their institutions, they could easily have reorganized and shown a new face to their fortune, and would have been in time either to have won or lost more gloriously, or to have obtained a more honorable accord.”
“Those who may want to imitate these men can be exposed to those vices of contempt and hatred, which as I have said above of Scipio and Hannibal, can be avoided by an excessive virtu which is in you, and not otherwise.”
“However, let his Holiness's taste of 'virtu' be ever so bad, pray get somebody to present you to him before you leave”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1750
“MY DEAR FRIEND: I apply to you now, as to the greatest virtuoso of this, or perhaps any other age; one whose superior judgment and distinguishing eye hindered the King of Poland from buying a bad picture at Venice, and whose decisions in the realms of 'virtu' are final, and without appeal.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1751
“virtu', yet there are some portraits of remarkable people that would tempt me.”
Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1752
“Lisa Predko/virtu Julie Horowitz-Jackson , owner of Virtu, a gifts boutique in Chicago, has managed to avoid the plight of several other stores on her street that closed in the last three years.”
“For example, Machiavelli appears and discusses his philosophical concept of "virtu" – the qualities needed to be a leader – with the hero Ezio.”
The Guardian: Why Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the best videogame ever
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘virtu’.
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nachchba's Words
stentorian, blasé, ennui, concinnity, melee, photokeratitis, skiffle, refulgence, mongrel, fakir, caid, eudaimonia and 215 more...
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Dictionary.com Words of the Days of 1999
1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008
emolument, palindrome, deprecate, bivouac, umbrage, incipient, dapple, pugnacious, capitulate, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious and 229 more...
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xyzprincess's Words
crabwise, virtu, peripatetic, idyll, trencherman, equivocate, flummery, hoi polloi, pixilated, albatross, wangle, bodacious and 170 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 889 more...
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akmed13's Words
time, spaceship, quantum mechanics, time traveller, bezonkers, strakh, path integrals, gorbfest, amphigory, amber, bicycle, amphisbaena and 358 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2253 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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verbophilia
for the words I love to use, want to use, or just simply enjoy.
kernkompetenz, zugzwang, yab-yum, zoetrope, asemic writing, vulpine, flarf, spoetry, eye rhyme, verity, vita, vonlenska and 26 more...
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Victor
vestal, vitriol, verisimilitude, vicissitude, veldt, voilà, voluptuary, virtu, vexillology, verdant, vertiginous, verbiage and 4 more...
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Literary / Aesthetic
Gongorism, paracinema, avantronica, arrière-garde, chrestomathy, diorama, philological, ideographic, daguerreotype, litterateur, pasticcio, mimeticism and 59 more...
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larkspur's Words
omphalos, troglodyte, lithe, quizzical, didactic, coronet, bijoux, mandrake, velveteen, phoenix, ecclesiastical, labyrinth and 38 more...
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My favourite english words
subjacent, invidious, virtu, overt, quadrangle, deliciously, antithetical, soporific, flummery, amusia, cakewalk, congruence and 65 more...
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